Customer Reviews

Enlightened Rogues

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Allman Brothers seem to specialize in making comebacks. This release was the first reunion of the band after some cooling tensions regarding a drug trafficking trial involving Greg Allman and one of the band's roadies. The results are just awesome.

The opening track Crazy Love just cooks with some killer guitar solos and great vocals by Dickie Betts. Can't Take It With You When You Go is another catchy track featuring super drumming and Greg Allman vocals. Pegasus is a prime time Allman Brothers instrumental and Need Your Love So Bad is a nice laid back blues effort.

The second half kicks off nicely with Blind Love. Love the stining guitar solos which back Greg Allman's fine vocals. Try It One More Time is a super reunion tune which features a nice call and answer vocal between Dickie Betts and Greg Allman. More strong guitar solo work by both Dickie Betts and Dangerous Dan Toler. Just Aint Easy is a nice low key ballad. The final cut Sail Away is a little weak but the Allman's instrumental touches make it at least listenable. Somehow the idea to end up with two straight soft songs does take a little bit away from the overall effectiveness of the recording. However, the CD version seems to have placed these songs as tracks three and four which improves the impression a little.

Other than those minor quips listed above, this is an excellent record that most if not all Allman Brothers fans should seek out.

The boys reformed in the late '70s, and while this lineup was far from classic, its first time in the studio produced a keeper. Dickey Betts came up with a glorious instrumental in Pegasus, Crazy Love proves he knows how to play slide guitar, and Try It One More Time is a fine duet between Betts and Gregg Allman, with the title saying it all. Pity this lineup went downhill so fast after such a good start.

I guess if I had to recommend just one ABB album it would be this one......and "Back Where it all Begins" and also "Hittin the Note". Sorry but it's tough to split those three. All kidding aside, Rogues really defines what the band was all about in the 70's and the album holds up very well even 30 years later. The song "Pegasus" is a masterpiece. If you're just getting into the Bro's, buy this album along with "Back Where it all Begins" and "hittin the note" and you'll have a great selection of the best of their work without the top 40 cliche tunes mixed in. My only regret is that they NEVER play anything from this album in concert. Thanks.

The first of 3 albums the Allman Brothers did with Dan Toler as their 2nd guitarist and their best of the 3. Not by coincidence, this was produced by Thom Dowd, who always brought out the best in the band.
All 8 cuts are good, especially Try it one more Time, which is duet between Gregg and Dickey. Pegasus is a typically good Dickey Betts instrumental and Dickey sings a duet with Bonnie Bramlett on Crazy Love.
When the band reunited once more in 1989, they pretty much forgot about everything they did from 1979 to 1982 and rarely play this stuff in concert. A shame becuase it's not a bad album at all.

the allman brothers band rules!!! this album is amazing. with great songs like CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU and PEGASUS this is one of my personal favorites. you definately need to hear this one to appreciate it!!

This is a highly underrated CD that really deserved more attention. Just Ain't Easy is one of Gregg's finest vocal performances, while Dicky really steps up both in his songwriting and fine lead guitar play.
Dan Tolner also deserves much greater praise than he ever recieved in his short turn with the band. He's not the great Warren Haynes but he plays with a lot more passion than the highly overrated Derek trucks.

As a true Allman fan, going back to before Live at the Fillmore, I recommend purchasing this CD.

Enlightened Rogues was the first Allman Brothers' studio album since the very lackluster Win, Lose, Or Draw four years earlier. That they were able to reunite as soon as they did was interesting considering the prior growing dissension within the band, particularly toward Gregg Allman and most of the band's dependency problems.

While Enlightened Rogues is a respectable comeback and they returned to their two guitar sound with the addition of Dan Toler and brought in Bonnie Bramlett to sing background vocals on two tracks, the album suffers from having few memorable songs. The best tracks here include "Crazy Love", which amazingly was their biggest chart hit next to "Ramblin' Man", the driving blues of "Blind Love", the slow ballad "Just Ain't Easy", and the underrated instrumental "Pegasus." But while these are all good tracks, none of them touch the classic material featured on their first five albums. Other tracks like "Need Your Love So Bad", "Can't Take It With You", and "Try It One More Time" are all decent but don't stand out. The performances are strong as they sound hungrier than they have since their earlier albums. But there are no classics here like "Whipping Post" or "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." A decent album but not among their best work.

To me, this was the Allman's best album to be released between Eat a Peach (their peak) and Seven Turns, far better than the overrated Brothers and Sisters: besides containing the group's second and last Top 40 hit (Crazy Love), the great instrumental Pegasus, and bluesy Can't Take it With You, they also bring home the goods on Try it One More Time and Just Ain't Easy. On the other end, they miss the mark totally on Blind Love; Need Your Love so Bad; and Sail Away, one of the most overused titles in history: Dickey Betts' singing, which drives me out of my head, doesn't add much. They can't all be masterpieces, and Enlightened Rogues is far from one, but whatever. If you're the kind of fan who thinks the Allmans should have packed it in after Duane died, I assure you this will change your mind.

Enlightened Rogues (1979) was the Allman Brothers Band's first studio album in four years, and it featured a new lineup and new start for the band. It's a strong album with two ABB classics, Crazy Love and Just Ain't Easy. Crazy Love is an exuberant Dickey Betts rocker, full of energetic slide guitar and wild romantic fun. Just Ain't Easy is Gregg Allman's slow and winding, world weary lament of too many wasted nights out on the town. The song's autobiographical heartfelt realization is quite compelling, and an example of Gregg's best songwriting.

Lovely ladies all dressed in silk and lace
While you're there, it seems like such a lovely place
But when you leave there, you've got your hat down on your face
Well, well

Other highlights include the blues-rocker Can't Take It With You, the substantial instrumental Pegasus, and Try It One More Time, a song where Gregg and Dickey co-sing dramatic shout-and-answer lead vocals. They visit the blues with the slow Need Your Love So Bad and the potent Blind Love, and Gregg turns in convincing vocal performances on both. With guitarist Dangerous Dan Toler added to the lineup, the Allmans return to their twin guitar sound, and it's a welcome revival. This was to be their last album on Capricorn Records before the label went bankrupt, and the band signed on with Arista Records. Enlightened Rogues (also Duane Allman's nickname for the band) is a solid album with some good songs, but it's not in the same league with anything from the Duane Era. On the other hand, nothing else is, either.

Much like 1990's "Seven Turns", "Enlightened Rogues" is pretty much a Dickey Betts-album. The singer/guitarist has written or co-written six of these eight tunes, "Need Your Love So Bad" was written by John Mertis for Fleetwood Mac back in the late 60s, and "Just Ain't Easy" by singer/keyboardist Gregg Allman.
But "Rogues" doesn't reach the same heights as the excellent "Seven Turns". It's a good album, but hardly a great one. There are several fine songs here, but the really excellent ones are largely missing.

Still, "Rogues" is certainly not a waste of money. A good-but-not-quite-great blues-rock number goes a long way when Gregg Allman is singing it, and Dickey Betts and Dan Toler play "duelling lead guitars". And songs like "Can't Take It With You" and the slow blues of "Need Your Love So Bad" in particular are very enjoyable. "Crazy Love" and "Blind Love" are quite similar, and a bit generic, but nice enough while they last. "Sail Away" is a good ballad. And Gregg Allman's slow, soulful "Just Ain't Easy" is very atmospheric, with a nice melody and some fine lead guitar playing.

There are some good riffs and a few really smoking solos here, enough to make it worth your while, certainly. "Enlightened Rogues" is a much lesser album than, say, "Idlewild South", "Hittin' the Note" or "Back Where It All Begins", but as far as lesser ABB albums are concerned, this is probably the best one.